Stories by Phil Pennington

The lack of independent checking on steel for highways has  come to light after a two-year fight to get information off the Transport Agency.

Auckland's Middlemore Hospital says it is on track to cope with an expected winter rush though it won't open any new beds until July.

The country's main building regulator has a large number of vacancies, months after it was overhauled in an attempt to improve its poor performance.

The Ministry for the Environment may need to "bang some heads together" over firefighting foam contamination, Local Government New Zealand says.

New Zealand Defence Force is blocking a regional council from getting vital information it needs to investigate toxic firefighting foam contamination in its water supply.

A new review of building product quality controls has been launched two years after a previous one went nowhere. Video

Social workers have changed their mind about whether a young girl is at risk living with her aunt, months after they rushed through a report saying she was not.

Court papers show Middlemore Hospital failed to pursue millions of dollars in a leaky building claim against construction firm Hawkins.

The government is expanding the investigation into water and soil contamination from chemicals commonly found in firefighting foam.

Documents about the nationwide firefighting foam contamination investigation show the Defence Force told the public one thing, but said something different in internal reports.

A leading engineer who ran an audit in New Zealand prompted by the Grenfell Tower fire is accusing ministry officials of failing to act over what he says are potentially unsafe building panels.

A steel quality expert is questioning whether the rules are tight enough around thousands of tonnes of Chinese steel going into the country's tallest residential skyscraper.

A broken leg and Australia's unfair treatment of New Zealand citizens has left a family of six living in Perth with only $100 to survive on.

Multiple rules were broken to get a new lecture theatre built, an investigation into Counties Manukau DHB has found.

A furore has erupted in the US over the Trump administration heading off a water contamination study that has implications for New Zealand.

The Education Ministry has two other claims against a building company that is now caught up in a receivership.

Extra checks on semi-trailer trucks are being brought in after years of warnings about faulty or broken skid plate connections.

Blood testing is able to detect a firefighting foam chemical that is causing concern in Australia, the Ministry of Health says.

A company behind a big construction firm that was ordered to pay millions for building a leaking high school has gone into receivership.

South Auckland hospital bosses say there's no point looking into whether a second Middlemore Hospital building broke the strict rules around healthcare spending.

Newly released documents show the Counties Manukau District Health Board reluctantly settled for $3 million compensation for one of it worst leaky buildings.

Middlemore Hospital, which desperately needs wards and operating theatres, has in the past completed a multimillion-dollar non-medical building without government approvals.

Only 10 buildings in Porirua have been checked by the council for building safety systems compliance in three years, far short of the roughly 330 checks recommended.

The suggestion that churches run their own inquiry shows that not including them had been decided from the start, abuse survivors say.

A panel of experts has issued advice saying there's no evidence the chemicals in firefighting foam affect people's health, but there is not enough evidence to rule it out either.